general

Creativity takes work, along with inspiration. Inspiration doesn’t always strike us when we plan for it, or when we need it. We have to adopt many different strategies to engage our creativity and intuition within problem solving. Yoshiki Iwata is the founder of the famous lean consulting firm Shingijutsu. Mr.

We are proud to release another video course, this time on strategic thinking. This 16 video course is titled The Strategic Thinker, the Strategic Process, and Your Strategy. The reason for the title is that we look at strategic thinking multidimensionally, covering the person, the process, and the outcomes. Developing

Innovation is about solving real problems. It does NOT require that you solve the problem in a unique or imaginative way. It really is all about solving problems. To be fair, if you don’t solve it in a unique way, then that innovation might not be a competitive advantage, or

In this video, Jamie looks at the lean product body of knowledge and what that means for your journey. Simply coming up with a solution to a problem can prevent true growth in your organization and prevent you from your true culture. Jamie will examine how to look at the

This article originally appeared on IndustryWeek.  I’ve been rereading, in greater depth, Art Smalley’s book Four Types of Problems. Art and I first worked together about 25 years ago on the transformation of Chrysler.  It went from near bankruptcy to the most profitable company in the industry, until it was

On Wednesday I participated in a webinar, hosted by Lean Frontiers, which included Jim Huntzinger, Karen Martin, and David Veech. We hosted almost 500 participants, received many questions, and tried to answer as many as we can. We covered a range of topics from the mindset of returning to better,

Trust is mandatory for optimization of a system. All of the parts of an organization must work as a whole. Jamie shares 5 points to approach trust in your organization. Please watch his video here:    

Can questions really be the answer? In this video, Jamie breaks down the benefits of using deliberate questions to develop your organization. Questions need to be used to help your people to think on their own. Questions need to have a purpose. He will give you examples of effective questions

I posted this question on LinkedIn and received numerous responses, and while each one furthered the discussion, there were also many differences between them. Some I believe were wrong, and some were just a different perspective. I think this is an important note in its own right because we often

While we could all still travel, I recorded a podcast with Ron Pereira of Gemba Academy. In fact, I was the first in-person guest in their new studio, which was great. Here’s the recording, where we talk about a range of stuff but focus on my recent deep-dive into the